Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes how your personal information is collected, used, and shared when you visit Sparksfostering.org (the “Site”).

This website is operated by Sparks Fostering, the trading name of Social Work Enterprise Ltd, an independent fostering provider regulated by Ofsted.

Our website address is: https://sparksfostering.org

For the purposes of data protection legislation, Sparks Fostering is the Data Controller.

You can contact us about data protection matters at:

This Privacy Policy explains how personal information is collected, used, stored and shared when:

  • You visit or interact with our website

  • You contact us or submit an enquiry

  • You leave comments or upload content to the site

  • You purchase resources or materials (where applicable)

  • You engage with Sparks Fostering as an organisation

This policy covers both website-related data and organisational data processed by Sparks Fostering. Some individuals (such as foster carers, children and young people, staff, or professionals) may also receive additional, role-specific privacy notices.

3.1 Device and Website Usage Information

When you visit the site, we automatically collect certain information about your device and how you interact with the site, including:

  • IP address

  • Browser type and version

  • Device and operating system

  • Time zone

  • Pages viewed and time spent on pages

  • Referring websites or search terms

This information is referred to as Device Information.

We collect Device Information using technologies such as:

  • Cookies – small data files placed on your device

  • Log files – which track actions occurring on the site

  • Web beacons, tags and pixels – used to understand browsing behaviour

3.2 Information You Provide to Us

Depending on how you interact with the site, we may collect personal information that you voluntarily provide, including:

  • Name

  • Email address

  • Telephone number

  • Postal address

  • Information submitted through forms or free-text fields

Where purchases are enabled on the site, we may also collect:

  • Billing and shipping address

  • Order details

Sparks Fostering does not store card details or sensitive payment information.

3.3 Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site, we collect:

  • The data shown in the comments form

  • The visitor’s IP address

  • The browser user agent string

This information is used to help with spam detection.

An anonymised string created from your email address (also known as a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to check whether you use it. The Gravatar privacy policy is available at: https://automattic.com/privacy/

After approval, your profile picture may be visible publicly in the context of your comment.

3.4 Media Uploads

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS). Visitors to the website may be able to download and extract any location data from images displayed on the site.

Our website uses cookies to support functionality and improve user experience.

  • If you leave a comment, you may opt in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies for convenience. These cookies last for one year.

  • If you visit the login page, a temporary cookie is set to determine whether your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

  • When you log in, cookies are set to save your login information and screen display preferences. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for one year.

  • If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks.

  • If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie is saved in your browser. This cookie contains no personal data and expires after one day.

You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings.

Articles on this site may include embedded content (for example videos, images or articles). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the same way as if you had visited the other website directly.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with embedded content, particularly if you have an account and are logged in to that service.

We use personal information to:

  • Respond to enquiries and requests

  • Process orders or resource requests (where applicable)

  • Communicate with users

  • Improve and optimise the website

  • Monitor usage and performance

  • Screen for potential risk, misuse or fraud

  • Maintain website security

  • Comply with legal, regulatory and safeguarding obligations

We may use your name and email address to send occasional communications about Sparks Fostering, including updates, resources or services we believe may be relevant.

You can unsubscribe from these communications at any time using the link provided in the email.

We do not use personal data for targeted or behavioural advertising.

We may share personal information with trusted third parties where necessary, including:

  • Website hosting and IT service providers

  • Analytics providers (such as Google Analytics)

  • Spam detection services

  • Professional advisers

  • Statutory or regulatory bodies where required by law

We do not sell personal information and do not share it outside the scope of our legitimate business, safeguarding responsibilities, or legal obligations.

We use analytics tools to help us understand how visitors use the site and to improve functionality and content. Where possible, data is aggregated or anonymised.

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service, which may process IP addresses and related technical data.

Sparks Fostering is a children’s social care organisation. Safeguarding is central to our work.

Where we process information relating to children and young people, this is done lawfully, proportionately, and with safeguarding as the primary consideration.

Information may be shared without consent where this is necessary to protect a child or comply with legal or regulatory duties.

We process personal data under one or more of the following lawful bases:

  • Legal obligation

  • Public task

  • Contract

  • Legitimate interests

  • Consent (where applicable)

Special category data and criminal offence data are processed in accordance with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, including where necessary for safeguarding and substantial public interest purposes.

Personal data is primarily stored and processed within the UK. Some website services (such as hosting, security or content delivery networks) may involve processing outside the UK.

Where this occurs, appropriate safeguards are in place in line with UK GDPR requirements.

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary.

  • Website comments and related metadata may be retained indefinitely to enable moderation and follow-up comments

  • User account information (where applicable) can be edited or deleted by the user, except for usernames

  • Organisational and fostering records are retained in line with statutory, regulatory and safeguarding requirements

Under UK data protection law, you have rights including:

  • The right to access your personal data

  • The right to rectification

  • The right to erasure (in limited circumstances)

  • The right to restrict processing

  • The right to object to processing

  • The right to data portability (where applicable)

  • The right to withdraw consent

Some rights may be limited where data is processed for safeguarding or statutory purposes

If you have concerns about how your data is handled, please contact us in the first instance.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. The latest version will always be published on this website.

For questions about this Privacy Policy or our data protection practices, please contact:

Email: [email protected]